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Tag: Biological Sciences (Page 1 of 6)

New and Noteworthy OER 02/22

February 22, 2024 / / 0 Comments

New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s monthly roundup of new and noteworthy open educational resources. We try to include at least one OER relevant to each school at City Tech in every post. At the end of the month, these resources will be compiled and distributed by the library liaison for your department. Please contact us if you know of new or particularly interesting OER to share with our colleagues or would like more information about open educational resources initiatives at City Tech.

Biology

  • Experiences in Biodiversity Research: A Field Course, by Thea B. Gessler, Iowa State University Digital Press (2024). License: CC BY-NC
    “This handbook was developed to support the course, Experiences in Biodiversity Research. This course is intended to provide early undergraduates with experience in the practice of biodiversity research and to demystify the path to careers in this field.”

Business

  • Introduction to Financial Analysis  by Kenneth S. Bigel, Touro College (2022). License: CC BY
    “…a dynamic guide incorporating the essential skills needed to build a foundation in Financial Analysis. Students and readers will learn how to insightfully read a Financial Statement, utilize key financial ratios in order to derive forward-looking investment-related inferences from the accounting data, engage in elementary forecasting and modeling, master the theory of the Time Value of Money, and learn to price stocks and bonds in an environment in which interest rates constantly change. Ample problems and solutions, and review questions are provided to the student so that s/he can gauge his/her progress.”

Computer Systems

  • Workplace Software and Skills (2023). License: CC BY
    “Workplace Software and Skills is designed to flexibly support a range of courses covering computer literacy, Microsoft Office, and Google Suite applications. The textbook covers both hard and soft skills that are applicable to a broad range of academic majors and careers. Chapters combine studio learning and guided practice with scaffolded activities designed to reinforce a student’s ability to perform higher-order tasks independently.” 

Health Sciences & Health Services Administration

  • Legal Fundamentals of Healthcare Law, by Tiffany Jackman, University of West Florida (2024). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Healthcare, a field dedicated to the well-being of individuals and communities, operates within an intricate web of legal principles. Understanding these laws is not simply a professional necessity for doctors, nurses, administrators, and researchers; it’s also an ethical imperative for anyone who interacts with the healthcare system. This book is your compass, guiding you through the labyrinth of legal fundamentals that shape the landscape of healthcare.”

History

  • American Government, 3rd edition (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
    Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.
  • World History, Volume 1 (to 1500) (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
    Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.

Human Services

  • Treatment of Addictions, Individual and Group by Whatcom Community College. License: CC BY
    “This course covers evidenced based approaches and systems of care in individual and group addiction treatment. Systems of care, historical models, healthy system recovery, and new peer supports are explored. Case studies, and information about documentation, counseling approaches, and case management are offered.”

Mechanical Engineering Technology

  • Essential Fluids with MATLAB and Octave – Part 1 (theory) by P. Venkataraman (2024). License: CC BY
    “This book covers the requisite theory for the basic study of fluid mechanics at low speeds. This book is unique in that it integrates engineering computation using the popular technical software MATLAB, and the free counterpart Octave.  Programming is by example throughout the book.  Prior knowledge of programming is not necessary.  This book reviews prerequisite topics prior to teaching the subject matter.  This book introduces the physics of fluid mechanics based on first principles. It develops the mathematical relations and model of fluid flow so that problems can be defined and solved. […] The topics in this book are illustrated with examples, with most solved by computation. The premise of this book is that science and mathematical concepts are best understood through graphics; therefore, software illustrates solutions through graphical programming.  Students are taught and encouraged to explore solutions through graphics.”
  • Introductory Dynamics: 2D Kinematics and Kinetics of Point Masses and Rigid Bodies, by Peter G. Steeneken, Delft University of Technology (2024). License: CC BY 
    “Motion is all around us, the universe is full of moving matter and this motion is surprisingly predictable. The field of science and engineering that studies time-dependent motion in the presence of forces is called Dynamics. In this book we will introduce the core concepts in dynamics and provide a comprehensive toolset to predict and analyse planar 2D motion of point masses and rigid bodies. The material includes kinematic analysis, Newton’s laws, Euler’s laws, the equations of motion, work, energy, impulse and momentum. Vector-based methods are discussed for systematically solving essentially any problem in 2D dynamics. The book provides a bachelor level introduction for any science and engineering student that can serve as a basis for more advanced courses in dynamics.

Sociology

  • Introduction to Sociology, 3rd edition (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
    Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.

OER Team:
Cailean Cooney, Associate Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Jo Thompson, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jthompson@citytech.cuny.edu

New and Noteworthy OER 10/20

October 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s monthly roundup of new and noteworthy open educational resources. We try to include at least one OER relevant to each school at City Tech in every post. At the end of the month, these resources will be compiled and distributed by the library liaison for your department. Please contact us if you know of new or particularly interesting OER to share with our colleagues or would like more information about open educational resources initiatives at City Tech.

Career & Technology Teacher Education

  • Social Foundations of K-12 Education, by Della Perez, Kansas State University (2022). License: Public Domain
    “Tensions in the relationship between public schools and society and their implications for teaching and learning are explored. The questions of what are freedom, democracy, instruction, power, and choice are central to the examination in learning and teaching for social change and social justice.”

Computer Information Systems & Computer Engineering Technology

  • An Animated Introduction to Digital Logic Design, by John D. Carpinelli, New Jersey Institute of Technology (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This book is designed for use in an introductory course on digital logic design, typically offered in computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and other related programs. Such a course is usually offered at the sophomore level. This book makes extensive use of animation to illustrate the flow of data within a digital system and to step through some of the procedures used to design and optimize digital circuits.”
  • Patterns for Beginning Programmers, by David Bernstein, James Madison University (2022, updated 2023). License: CC BY
    “Programming patterns are solutions to problems that require the creation of a small fragment of code that will be part of a larger program. Hence, this book is about teaching you how to write such fragments of code. However, it is not about teaching you the syntax of the statements in the fragments, it assumes that you already know the syntax. Instead, it is about finding solutions to problems that arise when first learning to program.”
  • The Shallow and the Deep: A biased introduction to neural networks and old school machine learning, by Michael Biehl, University of Groningen (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “The Shallow and the Deep is a collection of lecture notes that offers an accessible introduction to neural networks and machine learning in general. … The focus lies on classical machine learning techniques, with a bias towards classification and regression. Other learning paradigms and many recent developments in, for instance, Deep Learning are not addressed or only briefly touched upon.”

Environmental Science

  • Introduction to Earth Science, by Laura Neser, University Libraries at Virginia Tech (2022). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses.”

Health Sciences & Health Services Administration

  • Career Cornerstones: Establishing a Foundation for a Career in Healthcare, by Andrea M. Nelson and Katherine Greene, University of West Florida (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    This book was created for students entering their respective health profession’s program and is designed to help students be successful not only in their health profession’s educational program, but also as they start to intern or work in healthcare settings.

Law & Paralegal Studies

  • Fundamentals of Business Law, by Melissa Randall, Community College of Denver (2020). License: CC BY
    This book is an introductory survey of the legal topics required in undergraduate business law classes with twenty four chapters covering topics across business from the court system, the Constitution, to property and consumer law, among others.

  • Professional Responsibility: An Open-Source Casebook, by Brian L. Frye, University of Kentucky, and Elizabeth Schiller, University of Richmond (2019). License: Public Domain
    “This casebook covers a wide range of different subjects related to the professional responsibility of attorneys. While it is possible to cover all of this material in a three credit-hour course, you may wish to omit some subjects. You may also wish to supplement the materials in this casebook with additional materials. We encourage you to use this casebook in any way that you like.”

Psychology

  • Psychology of Human Relations, by Stevy Scarbrough, Umpqua Community College (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Understanding human relations is a valuable skill for anyone entering into the job market. The aim of this textbook is to aid readers in understanding their own behaviors and the behaviors of others with the intent of engaging in positive interactions in personal and professional spaces.”

Sociology

Spanish

  • Social and Regional Dialects of Spanish, by Emily Kuder, Connecticut College (2023). License: CC BY-NC-ND
    “This book presents an intermediate-advanced level course that employs pre existing resources and materials created by the author, Dr. Emily Kuder, to facilitate the learning of topics related to hispanic dialectology and sociolinguistics through openly available content. The book can be used by learners as a self-guided course or by a group of learners in a conventional class as a textbook.”

Open Education

  • Beyond the Horizon: Broadening Our Understanding of OER Efficacy, by Kaitlin Schilling, Rebus Community (2023). License: CC BY
    “Beyond the Horizon: Broadening Our Understanding of OER Efficacy is a concise yet comprehensive resource designed to provide insight into the current state of research and reporting on Open Educational Resources (OER) efficacy. This guide explores existing frameworks, delves into key themes and gaps, and highlights emerging opportunities in the realm of OER efficacy.”
  • Making Ripples: A Guidebook to Challenge Status Quo in OER Creation, by Kaitlin Schilling, Rebus Community (2023). License: CC BY
    “Making Ripples: A Guidebook to Challenge Status Quo in OER Creation is a short resource designed to expand your understanding of inequities in the educational systems through breaking down the work into smaller pieces with opportunities for you to reflect, identify strategies for action, and locate resources and community members to connect with. The purpose of this guide is to explore strategies for you as OER creators to incorporate equitable practices into your workflows.”
  • Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge, by Maria Bonn, Josh Bolick, Will Cross, Association of College and Research Libraries (2023). License: CC BY-NC
    “The intersection of scholarly communication librarianship and open education offers a unique opportunity to expand knowledge of scholarly communication topics in both education and practice. Open resources can address the gap in teaching timely and critical scholarly communication topics—copyright in teaching and research environments, academic publishing, emerging modes of scholarship, impact measurement—while increasing access to resources and equitable participation in education and scholarly communication.”

OER Team:

Cailean Cooney, Associate Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Jo Thompson, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jthompson@citytech.cuny.edu

New and Noteworthy OER 09/22

September 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s monthly roundup of new and noteworthy open educational resources. We try to include at least one OER relevant to each school at City Tech in every post. At the end of the month, these resources will be compiled and distributed by the library liaison for your department. Please contact us if you know of new or particularly interesting OER to share with our colleagues or would like more information about open educational resources initiatives at City Tech.

Biological Sciences

  • Introducing Mathematical Biology: An Open Education Resource, by Alex Best, University of Sheffield (2023). License: CC BY
    “Mathematical modeling plays an increasingly important role in almost any area of life sciences, and this interactive textbook focuses on the areas of population ecology, infectious diseases, immunology and cell dynamics, gene networks and pharmacokinetics. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning about how to model biological systems, including undergraduate and postgraduate mathematics students who have not studied mathematical biology before, life-sciences students with an interest in modeling, and post-16 mathematics students interested in university-level material. Some mathematical knowledge is assumed, and the mathematical models used are all in the form of ordinary differential equations.”

Business

  • Adaptive Apparel Design, by Ellen McKinney and Rachel Eike (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA.
    “…prepared to support those learning about adaptive apparel design. The text is easy for students, scholars, and designers to use, and is organized around the apparel design process: research, sketching, developing a sample notebook, mood or inspiration board, pattern work, first sample, and the completed ensemble. Users can read from beginning to end or jump into resources related to their current phase of design.”
  • Crawford Automation – A Guided Application of Structured Problem Solving: Continuous Improvement in Action, by Stephen Thomson; Kevin Hollis; and Laurie Turnbull, Conestoga College (2023).
    License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This is a multimedia-enabled case in which students will be guided, by an industry expert, to apply structured problem-solving that addresses a typical supply chain problem, missing parts. What first appears as the issue may be a symptom of a root cause(s). The case utilizes videos, data files for analytics, audio recording, and videogame-style exercises to find the missing box of parts. The case is a collaboration between the Conestoga Centre for Supply Chain Innovation and ATS Automation and utilizes the ATS Business Model (ABM) approach to identifying and solving root causes.”

Communication

  • In Your Eyes: Communicating in Close Relationships, by Sydney Brammer; Ryan Martinez; and Narissra Punyanunt-Carter, Texas Tech University Libraries (2023). License: CC BY-NC
    “This book was crafted for a new generation of people with an interest in communication studies, especially scholarship and concepts that speak to the role of close relationships in our lives and work. As you read through each chapter, you’ll meet new characters, ponder discussion questions, and interact with reflection activities that will get you to think deeply about various themes.”

Communication Design

  • Colour Theory: Understanding and Working with Colour, by Lisa Cianci (2023). License: CC BY-NC
    “Colour theory covers a long history from antiquity to modern times. It includes academic and scientific investigations into how we see and understand colour. It also includes practical applications for using colour in creative work. […] This learning resource covers the history of colour theory, how we see colour, and how to use colour systems to mix colour and create colour relationships.”

Computer Systems Technology 

  • Productivity in Common Operating Systems, by Lester Hiraki (2022, updated in 2023). License: CC BY-NC
    “The goal of this book is to provide the interested learner with the essentials to work in a Unix environment. […] The focus is on the user’s perspective to enable the user to be productive in a Unix environment.  Topics include understanding and navigating the file system, using common commands, and automating tasks.  Emphasizing the user’s perspective, the scope of this book does not include topics such as system administration, installation, or networking. […] This book is intended for adoption in the freshmen or sophomore year of a technical program (e.g. computer science, engineering, STEM, etc.).”

English

  • Essentials of Creative Writing, by Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa (2023).
    License: CC BY-NC
    “This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing in the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The primary audience for this textbook, however, is the new writer, someone who may be enrolled in an introductory class, or perhaps someone who is trying to learn about the craft of creative writing on their own.”

Dental Hygiene 

  • Dentistry Environment Essentials, by Nicole Stormon, Tachae Douglas-Miller, and Sowmya Shetty (2022). License: CC BY-NC.
    While the book is specific to the practice and standards of dentistry in Australia, the concepts, videos, and images, may be useful beyond this locale. This book aims to introduce the dental environment and give practical guidance on how to navigate the equipment, instruments, procedures and how to stay safe.

Health Sciences & Health Services Administration

History

  • Politics, Protest, Emotion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Book of Blogs, edited by Paul Reilly; Anastasia Veneti and Dimitrinka Atanasova, University of Sheffield (2017). License: CC BY
    “Politics, emotion and identity performance presents a series of personal reflections on the ‘affective turn’ in social movement studies. Case studies such as Anonymous, the Hong Kong protest camps and the 2016 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) march are  examined in order to explore the performance of identity in this era of global protest.”

Mathematics

  • Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory, by Eugene Boman and Robert Rogers, Milne Open Textbooks, SUNY (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory covers all of the topics in a typical first course in differential calculus. Initially it focuses on using calculus as a problem solving tool (in conjunction with analytic geometry and trigonometry) by exploiting an informal understanding of differentials (infinitesimals). As much as possible large, interesting, and important historical problems (the motion of falling bodies and trajectories, the shape of hanging chains, the Witch of Agnesi) are used to develop key ideas. Only after skill with the computational tools of calculus has been developed is the question of rigor seriously broached. At that point, the foundational ideas (limits, continuity) are developed to replace infinitesimals, first intuitively then rigorously.”

Mechanical Engineering Technology

  • Crawford Automation – A Guided Application of Structured Problem Solving: Continuous Improvement in Action, by Stephen Thomson; Kevin Hollis; and Laurie Turnbull, Conestoga College (2023).
    License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This is a multimedia-enabled case in which students will be guided, by an industry expert, to apply structured problem-solving that addresses a typical supply chain problem, missing parts. What first appears as the issue may be a symptom of a root cause(s). The case utilizes videos, data files for analytics, audio recording, and videogame-style exercises to find the missing box of parts. The case is a collaboration between the Conestoga Centre for Supply Chain Innovation and ATS Automation and utilizes the ATS Business Model (ABM) approach to identifying and solving root causes.”
  • Machine Shop VESL, by Lisa Hillyard, MHCC Library Press. License: CC BY-NC
    An introductory text for those working in machine shops covering basic hand tools, measurements, reading plans, as well as working with large shop machines.

OER Team:

Cailean Cooney, Associate Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Jo Thompson, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jthompson@citytech.cuny.edu

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